Niger votes amid hopes elections will lead uranium producing nation out of the shadow of al-Qaeda

Niger's junta leader has called on voters for a massive turnout in an election that is expected to close the door on a year of military rule, and lead one of world's top uranium-producing nations out of the shadow of a growing threat from al-Qaeda.

People wait to cast their vote at a polling station for the presidential and legislative elections in NiameyPhoto: AFP

4:26PM GMT 31 Jan 2011

Junta leader Salou Djibo voted for presidential and legislative candidates in the capital, Niamey, on Monday, accompanied by other members of his leadership team

"I call on all the people of Niger to come out to vote in massive numbers to elect their deputies and president," he said, saying the polls offer "a new start for Niger."

"This new start will allow authorities freely elected by the people to work and devote themselves to the development of Niger," Mr Djibo added.

The Sahelian country's 6.7 million registered voters must choose between three former allies of Mamadou Tandja, the ex-president, who was deposed in a military coup in February last year, as well as a longtime opponent of the former leader.

The ruling junta took power in a February coup last year and has vowed to usher in civilian rule. No junta member was up for election.

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Several candidates have emerged from a scrum of 10 running for the presidency.

Chief among them is opposition leader Mahamadou Issoufou, whose Social Democratic Party represents change.

Mr Issoufou faces a challenge from three other candidates.

They include Seini Oumarou, the anointed follower of Mr Tandja's National Movement for the Development of Society, who is still languishing in jail.

Hama Amadou, the former Prime Minister, is also close to the deposed leader while Niger's first democratically-elected president in 1993, Mahamane Ousmane, is trying for another term.

Mr Oumarou, Mr Amadou and Mr Ousmane have created a stir by forging a pact meant to deny Mr Issoufou victory should no candidate emerge with an overall majority and the presidential poll goes to a second round.

In the event one of them finds himself in a head-to-head against the social democrat, the other two will give him their full backing.

All main candidates in the former French colony have similar platforms, with fighting poverty, which afflicts 60 per cent of the population, the main goal along with a more equitable distribution of income, notably from the mining of uranium of which Niger is a leading producer.

Voting in a primary school, Djibo Hadjara, a 30-year-old teacher, said she wanted the next president "to help the poor and above all teachers and students."

And student Amadou Hassane said whoever wins must develop the farming sector in the desperately poor country.

"Begging to eat in the 21st century, it's a real shame for Niger," he added.

The new president will also have to deal with the growing threat posed by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which has stepped up abductions of Westerners in the Sahel.

In September, al-Qaeda's regional offshoot seized five French hostages along with a Togolese and a Madagascan from Niger's uranium mining town of Arlit.

Earlier this month, al-Qaeda kidnapped two Frenchmen from a Niamey restaurant and the two were later found dead in Mali after a failed attempt by French special forces to rescue them.

The junta took power last year to end a crisis triggered by Mr Tandja's attempts to extend his rule beyond the constitutional limits.

Mr Tandja will be following the vote from prison, where he was transferred in mid-January from house arrest on allegations of financial misappropriation.

Niger's history in the 50 years since independence has been a series of coups and military regimes.